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Defense attorneys for
John Walker Lindh filed documents describing how, after barely surviving
atrocities that claimed the lives of hundreds of his companions, the
so-called "American Taliban" was tortured while the FBI wrangled
statements out of him in violation of his Fifth Amendment right not
to be a witness against himself. The new filings are for a crucial hearing
on July 15 to determine whether statements made by Lindh after his capture
with an Afghan Army unit will be suppressed or allowed into evidence
at trial.

Lindh, who turned 21
three months ago, was found barely alive among the handful of Taliban
prisoners who survived the US-backed massacre at Qala-i-Jangi fortress
near Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan late last November. The upcoming suppression
hearing is widely viewed as pivotal in the case. Prosecutors acknowledge
that they have little evidence outside of Lindh's own statements to
support their charges that he conspired to murder US citizens and illegally
supported terrorist organizations. The charges carry sentences ranging
from decades to life in prison. Trial is set to begin in Alexandria,
Virginia, within a few miles of the Pentagon, on August 26.

The defendant's papers
include a "Proffer of Facts in Support of Defendant's Suppression
Motions" based principally on information turned over by the government
in "discovery," supplemented with information from news stories
and details provided by Lindh himself. (The
proffer can be found at http://www.lindhdefense.info/20020613_
FactsSuppSuppress.pdf)

The defense document
explains that Lindh's journey to Afghanistan was part of a phenomenon
which "dates back to the 1980s, when Afghan and foreign mujahideen,
funded in large part by the United States" fought against Soviet
troops. After rejecting an invitation to participate in operations outside
Afghanistan, Lindh became a "member of the Army of the State of
Afghanistan" and joined the Taliban front lines in the Takar region
of Northern Afghanistan on September 6, 2001, the week before the terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He stayed there
until early November, when forces under the control of the notorious
warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, backed by US firepower, routed the Taliban
troops.

Lindh's unit retreated
on foot 50 miles to Kunduz in two days. There was little food and water,
and the weather was very cold. Lindh and about 100 others became separated
from the main group, and were mistaken for Northern Alliance soldiers
when they tried to reunite. About one-third of the men with whom Lindh
was traveling were killed by the resulting "friendly fire."

Lindh's unit surrendered
to Dostum after 10 days trapped in Kunduz. A deal was made for the soldiers
to receive safe passage to Herat, then still under Taliban control.
Instead, the prisoners were taken to the Qala-i-Jangi fortress outside
Mazar-i-Sharif. One of the detained Afghan soldiers detonated a grenade
as he was being unloaded from a truck. As a result, the remaining prisoners,
including Lindh, were crammed into a basement, and a grenade was dropped
down an air duct, killing and wounding several men. Dostum's guards
made the prisoners stay in the basement. Unable to find a space in which
to lie down, Mr. Lindh spent the night without sleep, crouched near
a corner that was used as a toilet by the other men in the basement.

The next day, the prisoners
were led out of the basement and into the yard. Their arms were bound
behind their backs, and they were made to sit in rows. Dostum's guards
walked among them, randomly hitting and kicking prisoners. Lindh was
struck in the back of the head and almost lost consciousness. CIA agent
Johnny "Mike" Spann and another agent, working with Dostum's
men, singled out Lindh and questioned him at gunpoint. The episode was
captured on videotape and records the Americans saying to Lindh, "The
problem is, he needs to decide if he wants to live or die, and die here
... we're just going to leave him, and he's going to f--ing sit in prison
the rest of his f--ing short life. It's his decision, man. We can only
help the guys who want to talk to us." Lindh remained mute throughout
the questioning.

Later that day a prisoner
again detonated a grenade. This time, Northern Alliance troops opened
fire, mowing down the rows of bound prisoners with automatic weapons.
In the ensuing pandemonium Spann was killed under circumstances that
have never been made public. It seems not unlikely he was caught in
Northern Alliance crossfire. In any event, there is no evidence that
Lindh had anything to do with his death.

Lindh was shot in the
leg while fleeing the carnage. He lay on the ground for 12 hours, surrounded
by corpses and pretending to be dead, while US aircraft bombed the compound,
blowing living and dead prisoners to bits. In the middle of the night,
Lindh and several other survivors in the yard made their way back into
the basement. Wounded, starving and freezing, Lindh was trapped there
for the next seven days. Dostum's troops periodically dropped grenades
down air shafts, killing many. One wounded Lindh with shrapnel.

On the fourth day, Northern
Alliance troops poured gasoline into the basement and ignited it, incinerating
several men. Then Dostum's soldiers fired rockets into the areas of
the basement where the men had fled to escape the flames, littering
the area with body parts.

On the sixth day, Dostum's
troops flooded the basement with near freezing water. According to government
disclosures, an eyewitness said that the water "was about waist
high for one full day. Those who were too injured to stand drowned,
and the water was full of blood and waste." According to the proffer,
"Mr. Lindh and others were forced to drink the water to stay alive.
Unable to stand without assistance, Mr. Lindh alternated between leaning
on a stick and a fellow soldier to keep from falling under the water
and drowning. At least once, Mr. Lindh tripped over a dead body and
was submerged in the freezing water, which resulted in his suffering
hypothermia."

On December 1, "wounded,
starved, frozen and exhausted," Lindh emerged from the basement
with the other survivors, less than 85 of the more than 300 prisoners
brought to the Qala-i-Jangi fortress the week before. Dostum's forces
bound his arms behind his back once again, and he was crammed into a
metal shipping container with other wounded and sick prisoners for six
hours, doubled over with abdominal cramps caused by drinking the polluted
water in the basement.

Lindh was transferred
to an open-air truck full of dying prisoners and learned that there
were media and Red Cross representatives in the area. One told him that
Dostum would have killed all the survivors were they not there. Still
wet from the basement, Lindh was driven three hours through the cold
night to Sheberghan, where he was taken by stretcher into a room about
10 feet by 10 feet, where he was left with approximately 15 other dead
or dying prisoners.

It was there that CNN
correspondent Robert Pelton found Lindh and began questioning him on
videotape. According to the proffer, Lindh at first refused to be interviewed,
but relented after Pelton arranged for him to receive food and medical
attention from the US military. He was moved into a room without other
prisoners. While armed US soldiers stood guard, a medic removed Lindh's
clothes and began treatment. As he answered Pelton's questions, Lindh
was receiving morphine and other medications intravenously. The interview
was widely shown on CNN during the month of December.

Pelton told Lindh's parents
about his predicament. They quickly retained prominent San Francisco
trial lawyer James Brosnahan, who immediately faxed demands that the
US government not interrogate Lindh until they consulted him, and offered
to travel to Afghanistan to meet with his new client. Although these
letters were faxed to US Attorney General John Ashcroft and other government
officials on December 3, Brosnahan was not allowed to speak to his client
until January 25, almost two months later, moments before Lindh's first
court appearance in the United States.

Following the Pelton
interview, Lindh was interrogated by a member of the US Special Forces
at Dostum's compound without first being advised of his right to remain
silent and his right to counsel. The next day, the same Special Forces
officer bound Lindh's hands with rope and placed a hood over his head.
Lindh was taken to a schoolhouse in Mazar-i-Sharif, where he was held
in a room with the windows covered so that he could not tell the time
of day. Round-the-clock armed guards taunted Lindh with epithets like
"shitbag" and "shithead." Lindh was given some food,
but was always left hungry. Military interrogations began again, lasting
several hours and continuing for several days. Lindh was not advised
of his constitutional rights, and when he asked for a lawyer, he was
told none was available. His bullet wound was left untreated, "to
preserve the chain of custody" of the bullet for its use as evidence
at trial.

On December 7, heavily
armed US soldiers blindfolded and handcuffed Lindh, scrawled "shithead"
across the blindfold, and posed with him for photos. One US soldier
told Lindh that he was "going to hang," and then the pictures
could be sold and the proceeds donated to a Christian organization.
Another told Lindh that he wanted to shoot him then and there. Lindh
was cuffed so tightly that his wrists were scarred, and his hands were
numb for months.

Lindh was flown to a
Marine airbase in the Afghanistan high desert dubbed Camp Rhino. According
to a statement provided in government discovery, a Navy doctor claims
a US Special Forces officer told him at Camp Rhino that "sleep
deprivation, cold and hunger might be employed" while Lindh was
interrogated. That certainly seems to have been the case. Once at Camp
Rhino, Lindh's guards stripped him naked, and fastened him to a stretcher
with duct tape and placed him in a metal shipping container. Conditions
inside the container would have tested the endurance of anyone, much
less someone in Lindh's weakened condition. There was no light, heat
or insulation. Two small holes provided all the ventilation. Guards
taunted Lindh through the holes, threatening to spit in his food. Lindh's
hands were tied together. At first he was fully exposed, but eventually
the guards covered him with a blanket and placed one underneath him.

For two days, Lindh was
provided minimal food and medical attention. He was freezing cold and
in constant pain because of the wrist restraints that were too tight.
The loud noise of an electric generator echoed in the container. He
could not move. Lindh was not even released from the stretcher when
he needed to urinate. Instead, guards propped him upright.

On December 9, Lindh
was dressed in a hospital gown and taken into a room or tent. When his
blindfold was removed, an FBI agent presented him with a form waiving
his constitutional rights. The note Lindh's parents sent to him through
the Red Cross, advising that they had retained a lawyer for him, was
not delivered. Although Brosnahan was still trying to reach him, the
agent repeated than no attorneys were available. Desperate to improve
the conditions of his confinement, Lindh signed the waiver and answered
the FBI agent's questions.

The FBI interviews continued
for two days. There is no tape or transcript of the interrogations,
only the agent's summary. After the interrogations, Lindh's conditions
improved somewhat. On December 14, he was transferred to the USS Peleliu,
where he was treated for dehydration, hypothermia and frostbite. The
next day the bullet was removed from his leg. There was no further questioning.

Under existing legal
precedent, especially the landmark Miranda decision recently reaffirmed
by the US Supreme Court, none of Lindh's statements can be considered
voluntary and therefore admissible over a Fifth Amendment challenge.
This outcome was in fact discussed in a series of US Justice Department
emails that were leaked to the media after being turned over to United
States District Judge Thomas S. Ellis III, who refused to release them
to the Lindh defense.

According to the email,
one Justice Department lawyer wrote to another on December 7, the day
Lindh landed at Camp Rhino, that "The FBI wants to interview American
Taliban member John Walker some time next week.... Walker's father retained
counsel for him. The FBI wants to question Walker about taking up arms
against the US. I consulted with a Senior Legal Advisor here at PRAO
and we don't think you can have the FBI agent question Walker. It would
be a pre-indictment, custodial overt interview, which is not authorized
by law."

The government prosecutors
will no doubt be filing their own papers soon, disregarding this assessment
and arguing that Lindh's Camp Rhino waiver of his constitutional rights
to remain silent and consult an attorney was "voluntary."
In presenting their claim to Judge Ellis, they will be pushing on an
open door. Ellis has openly sided with the prosecutors at every hearing
in the case so far, and can be expected to do so at the suppression
hearing as well.

At the last hearing,
which was held on June 17, Ellis summarily denied seven separate defense
motions, rejecting claims that Lindh was a legal combatant entitled
to Geneva Convention protections, and that his activities with the Taliban
were protected by the First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of religion
and association.

Demonstrating that he
has already judged Lindh and found him guilty, Ellis dispensed with
the last argument by stating that "The First Amendment freedom
of association is no license to provide terrorists with support."
He then refused to move the venue of the trial from near the Pentagon,
where almost 200 people were killed on September 11, or to dismiss the
case because of the prejudicial and inappropriate pretrial comments
made by John Ashcroft.

Perhaps
the most interesting defense motion called for Ellis to dismiss the
charges against Lindh because of "selective
prosecution." Lindh's lawyers filed voluminous documents
establishing that he is the only person ever prosecuted for supporting
the Taliban, even though many firms and individuals had continued doing
business with the Taliban after Clinton issued the executive order Lindh
is accused of violating.

The most obvious example
is the Unocal pipeline project, which was not
finally abandoned until August 2001. The prosecutors' opposition
to the motion states: "the defendant himself notes that some of
his 'evidence' suggests that the government supported Unocal's pipeline
project, which would have brought natural gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan
by crossing through Afghanistan-a route purportedly preferable to alternative
routes through Russia or Iran. The defendant cannot possibly suggest
that the executive branch of government may not consider the national
interest when deciding whether to bring criminal charges."

In other words, the
oil monopolies and other sections of the corporate elite could violate
the law with impunity,
because their drive to reap profits by currying favor with the Taliban
was deemed to be in "the national interest." Lindh, on the
other hand, can be condemned to lifetime imprisonment because
he lacks the connections to the Bush administration enjoyed by the oil
executives and makes a convenient scapegoat.

Despite his riveting
personal drama, Lindh himself is a relatively insignificant figure.
His presence in Afghanistan had no effect on the outcome of the US military
campaign, and there is no evidence that he
had any involvement in terrorism or fired a single shot at American
forces.

He is being prosecuted
not only to make an example of him and intimidate others who might oppose
US policies, but also to condition public opinion to even more repressive
and dictatorial measures,
such as those presently being used against Jose Padilla. The Brooklyn-born
man, alleged to have participated in a "dirty bomb" plot,
is being held incommunicado in a military brig without
even the pretenses of due process.

(In
accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and educational purposes.)

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